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TAB to draft letter to City Council on 2026 transportation priorities, emphasizing funding and communications
Summary
The Transportation Advisory Board agreed to draft a December letter for Council that will highlight transportation department 2026 priorities, urge funding to implement multimodal projects (including CAN) and recommend stronger communications about multimodal projects and parking programs; Darcy Kitching will draft and work with Mike to co-draft.
The Transportation Advisory Board agreed on Oct. 13 to prepare a letter to City Council outlining the board’s suggested transportation and mobility priorities for 2026, with a submission window ahead of the council retreat and a deadline of Dec. 19 for board input.
TAB members discussed a department presentation that listed 14 department priorities and a separate slide of ongoing core functions such as snow-and-ice response and pavement management. Several members urged that the board focus its letter on funding gaps — especially for the Core Arterial Network (CAN) and other multimodal projects — and on clearer, affirmative communications so residents better understand how transportation projects work together to reduce vehicle miles traveled and improve multimodal safety.
Board members raised the recent Transportation Maintenance Fee and the Transportation Demand Management ordinance as examples of complex policy changes the public may not fully understand without coordinated communications. Several members suggested the letter recommend that Council prioritize actions that make implementation feasible and to fund communication and outreach around major multimodal changes.
"I am anxious that the community doesn't get it — that there are probably many members of the community who, if they saw a list like this, would not understand how all of these things are related," TAB member Michael said during the discussion, urging an integrated communications campaign. Members also suggested the letter call for filling funding gaps and continuing to align transportation and land-use planning.
TAB agreed on a drafting process: a short draft will be prepared for review and the board will vote on a final letter at the November TAB meeting so staff can include it with Council materials before year-end. Vice chair Darcy Kitching said she will draft an initial version and asked TAB member Mike to co-draft; they will circulate a blind-copy draft to other TAB members to comply with public-meeting rules before the November meeting.
Ending: Darcy Kitching and a co-drafter will produce a draft for TAB review in November; the board plans to vote on a final letter for Council before the Dec. 19 submission deadline.
